What is the purpose of the Higher and Lower Interludes in our meditations of the Full Moon Approach to the Hierarchy and The Strengthening of the Hands of the New Group of World Servers which we use at the time of the new moon? A very clear answer can be found in A Treatise on White Magic by Alice A. Bailey [page 517], where it is said that the  higher interlude has to do with divine or abstract thought impressing the soul which is then sent to the waiting mind. On the other hand, the lower interlude is concerned with the mind and concrete thought whereby the aim is to transfer divine thought into the form. This then involves impression on the brain which in turn will produce some action involving the physical body itself. In this way energy follows thought.

There is much more on this in the previous page of the book, where, amongst other statements there is this on the higher interlude; “There is a point of inspired waiting. The mechanism is entirely quiescent. The mind is held steady in the light and the soul in the meantime thinks, as is its habit, in unison with all souls, taps the resources of the Universal Mind and formulates its purposes in line with the universal plan”. So this is the purpose of the Higher Interlude and we can understand why it is called ‘Higher’ - because connection to the Universal Mind is to take place.

The lower interlude, on the other hand, is one where “the waiting mind again becomes active and in so far as it has been rightly oriented and held in a purely receptive attitude, it becomes the interpreter and instrument of the soul, which has now turned the “light of its countenance upon the attentive personality”. Through that medium it can now work out the plans formulated in the interlude of contemplation….the brain receives the transmitted impression and the physical plane life is then adjusted so that those plans can properly materialise”. So we can see that, actually, in our meditations, we are engaging here in the very process of co-creative activity itself in line with the Plan and so working with Ray Three, that of Creative Intelligence or Creative Activity.

Just as these two interludes apply to our meditation work so too do they apply to the spiritual year. However, the fact that there are interludes begs the question, exactly between what sort of activities are these interludes placed? Interludes in themselves imply spaces between two activities. Well, there is a Law of Cycles which explains this and in this cycle there are four distinct stages which correspond to the breathing cycle. In this case, the breathing process is seen as vital in any creative process. The four activities or stages are as follows [adapted from Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age II, page 452]:

As said before, just as these stages are the basis of our creative meditations so too do they apply to the whole of the spiritual year.  In the annual cycle the first quarter comprising the full moons of Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces, correlates with the phase of the in-breath in the breathing cycle. During this time there is meant to be a focus on alignment with the emphasis placed on detachment from the world of phenomena. In other words, just as we make our alignment with all that is higher in our meditations, so our consciousness is to be withdrawn from its usual outward concern during this time of the In-breath. Instead, our consciousness is to be gathered in and raised up so that a creation of the centralisation of the forces can take place

The whole point is that this period is a time of needed preparation when, if the work is  done rightly, then the following phase of the Higher Interlude, which corresponds to the three spiritual Festivals of Aries [Easter], Taurus [Wesak] and Gemini [World Invocation Day or the Festival of Humanity, should be one whereby the consciousness can respond to impression from the highest spiritual energies available in the annual cycle.

The Out-breath phase of crisis and production of results takes place during the full moons of Cancer, Leo and Virgo to be followed by the phase of the Lower Interlude at the time of the months of the full moons of Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius where the work is recognised prior to a refocusing and a return to the start of the cycle.

The teaching on the Law of Cycles has some relevance here, for in the same source as above, we are told of the need to “arrive at a real understanding of the Law of Cycles - in your own life, in the life of any related group, and in the life of humanity itself”. The Tibetan continues by urging all of us to “establish this rhythmic, cyclic “breath of consciousness”….and make this objective a matter of real importance…until the time comes when you will work upon inner levels, free of the physical body; you will find the effort both interesting and practical”. 

It is interesting too that we are told that there are three levels in the application of these phases of activity. The first level applies to the personality and it said that all the effects will be confined to the life of the personality in the three worlds, which are the mental, astral or emotional, and the physical/etheric. The second level is to be learnt as the soul so that this Law of Cycles will set up the whole rhythm of all our creative efforts for the entire remainder of this lifetime . The third stage applies to the Path of Initiation where the very same process is re-learnt on a much higher turn of the spiral in order to align with the planetary rhythm.